Jack Reynor’s Charlie Cannon is introduced as a man carrying the weight of a fractured family, and the Irish actor sells that burden with a weary physicality that feels lived-in. He doesn’t get a showy monologue to announce his presence; instead, Reynor builds Charlie through small, reactive gestures, a hesitant hand on a doorframe, the way he avoids eye contact with his own daughter.
It is a performance of quiet desperation, and it grounds the supernatural chaos in something recognizably human. Reynor understands that horror works best when the audience believes the protagonist is genuinely out of their depth.
Lee Cronin’s Direction Favors Dread Over Deliverance
Cronin, who made a name with the grimly efficient *Evil Dead Rise*, brings a similar texture of grime and unease to this Mummy reboot. He clearly favors slow-burning dread over cheap jump scares, and the early stretches of the film are draped in an oppressive atmosphere that suggests something ancient is watching.
But the screenplay’s structure is the film’s undoing. It introduces the Cannon family’s internal fractures, a missing mother, a detective circling the case, without ever letting those threads tighten into a coherent knot. The plot meanders when it should accelerate.
The Horror Craft: Atmosphere Over Substance
The film’s primary genre obligation is to frighten, and Cronin delivers moments of genuine visual unease. Hayat Kamille’s “The Magician” is a chilling presence, her movements carrying an unnatural stillness that feels genuinely otherworldly. One sequence involving a mirror reflection that doesn’t quite sync with its subject is the kind of quiet, effective terror that Cronin does best.
However, the horror lacks a central setpiece that demands to be rewatched. There is no iconic moment of transformation, no single image that will linger in the cultural memory the way the best Mummy iterations have. The scares are competent but generic, borrowing from a playbook of possessed-household tropes without adding a distinctive new page.
The pacing is the real killer. The first half builds a promising sense of isolation, but the second half rushes through its reveals, leaving the mythology feeling undercooked and the final confrontation feeling rushed. The dread Cronin so carefully cultivates dissipates in a climax that feels more like a shrug than a scream.
If you’re looking for more chilling tales, browse our English Mystery reviews for your next fright night.
Laia Costa and May Calamawy Provide Strong, If Underwritten, Support
Laia Costa’s Larissa is the emotional anchor of the Cannon household, and she brings a fierce maternal instinct to a role that could have easily been a passive victim. Her scenes with Reynor crackle with the tension of a marriage fraying at the edges, even if the script doesn’t give her enough to do in the final act.
May Calamawy’s Detective Dalia Zaki is a welcome addition, injecting a dose of procedural skepticism into the supernatural proceedings. She plays the investigator with a sharp, analytical edge, and her interactions with the family offer some of the film’s most grounded dialogue. One wishes her subplot had been given more room to breathe.
A Reboot That Feels Like a Ghost of Its Predecessors
There is no political firestorm surrounding this release, but the audience reception has been telling. The film is being discussed less as a bold reinvention and more as a cautionary tale about studio nostalgia. The shadow of the 1999 Brendan Fraser classic looms large, and Cronin’s somber, grim take lacks the swashbuckling fun that made the original a blockbuster.
The decision to lean into pure horror over adventure-adventure pulp is a bold one, but it strips away the charm that made the property enduring. This is a Mummy film for people who found the original too silly, but it forgets that a little silliness can be a feature, not a bug. In the end, it’s a competently made but emotionally hollow exercise in brand management.
For a film that feels trapped between its own ambitions and its legacy, the recommendation is a cautious one. If you are a devotee of Cronin’s grim aesthetic, you will find moments to admire, but the film never coheres into a satisfying whole. Wait for streaming and watch it with the lights on, if only to appreciate the craft that got lost in the murky narrative.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is a handsomely mounted but dramatically inert affair, earning a middling 2.5 out of 5 for its atmospheric craft and committed cast, but losing points for a script that buries its best ideas.
If you’re in the mood for a different kind of scares, check out Bhooth Bangla review.
For a more grounded take on urban dread, see how 8th Street verdict handles its micro-budget constraints.
Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.
